Aqa Poetry Anthology Literature Paper 2: Y11 Guide Book

AQA POETRY ANTHOLOGY
LITERATURE PAPER 2
Y11
GUIDE BOOK
How to use this guide:
This guide to the 15 poems in the AQA Anthology is not intended to be the be-all
and end-all of your knowledge. It is not a replacement for your annotated
anthologies, it is not a replacement for your class book or the extended writing
you have done on both individual poems and comparisons.
What it is, is an attempt to provide an analysis of each poem and help you
organise some of those ideas into groups, see how they can be discussed in
writing, identify key devices and their effects, and give you a vocabulary bank of
ambitious language for each poem, which you can see in context.
Poems for
Main points organized comparison
Context of poem into paragraphs
Green Box for Topic,

Running notes of Viewpoint, Tone
poem in each stanza
Red box to
summarise
STRUCTURE
Yellow boxes to
Key terminology
summarise
highlighted in bold
LANGUAGE &
IMAGERY
Possible topic
sentences underlined
Key ambitious vocabulary

to write about the poem
K McCabe 2016 2
Contents:
PAGE POEMS Self-Assessment
5-7 When We Two Parted
8-10 Neutral Tones
11-13 Winter Swans
14-17 Singh Song
18-20 Love’s Philosophy
21-25 Farmer’s Bride
26-30 Porphyria’s Lover
31-33 Sonnet 29: I Think of Thee
34-36 Walking Away
37-39 Follower
40-42 Mother, Any Distance
43-45 Climbing My Grandfather
46-48 Eden Rock
49-51 Before You Were Mine
52-54 Letters From Yorkshire

K McCabe 2016
3
Assessment Objectives:
Poetry Essay Writing
Understanding the question
Understanding the individual poems
Understanding relevant context points of each poem
Identifying poetic techniques and naming them
Linking poetic techniques to topic/meaning/theme
Identifying structure techniques and poetry
Linking structure techniques to topic/meaning/theme.
Zooming in on the detail, words and phrases, unpicking the

connotation and implication.
Making clear, topic sentence statements focused on the
question to start paragraphs
Use textual references
Embedding quotations in sentences for fluent writing
Using ambitious vocabulary to discuss the ideas in the

poem
Offering alternative interpretations and acknowledging the
ambiguity in the poems
Using adverbial phrases of confident, sophisticated
language
Comparing points within paragraphs
K McCabe 2016 4
WHEN WE TWO PARTED
THEMES:
By Lord Byron (1788 – 1824)
When We Two Parted is thought to be based upon one of the many  Secret, forbidden Love
 Regret
scandalous relationships Byron was involved in during his lifetime.  Pain, Loss, Death
He was notorious and labelled ‘mad, bad and dangerous to know.’ It  Anger
is claimed that Byron falsely stated the poem was written in 1808 in
COMPARE WITH:
Context
order to protect the reputation of the lady it was written about,

Lady Frances Webster, and was actually written in 1816. Lady  Neutral Tones
 Winter Swans
Webster was also said to be involved in an affair with the Duke of  Farmer’s Bride
Wellington. Byron was a leading Romantic poet.  Porphyria’s Lover
The title refers to the painful moment the relationship ended and speaks directly to the woman, to
confess the poet’s reactions and response to that day.
Stanza 1: The ‘silence’ suggests many feelings unspoken, either because this is not a mutual parting,
or because there is a forbidden, secret aspect to the relationship. This is further indicated by the
poet being ‘half-broken hearted’ and that he will be scarred by the experience for years - ‘sever’.
Stanza 1: The woman is described as becoming ‘cold’ and emotionless, all warmth they may have
shared is now dying.
Stanza 2: Pathetic fallacy used to further the cold atmosphere ‘dew of the morning’.
Stanza 2: The woman’s reputation is now ‘light’, possibly as the result of another or even this
scandal, and the poet, due to his secret involvement with the woman ‘shares in the shame’. The
unnamed people of the society of the time are gossiping and criticising the woman.
Stanza 3: The pressure of public opinion and reputation continues into stanza 3. The rhetorical
question suggests that the poet is emotionally traumatized by the affair even though he has escaped
with his anonymity intact.
Stanza 4: The tone begins to turn to anger and bitterness as the poet acknowledges he is left with
deep emotional wounds ‘long shall I rue thee’
Stanza 5: The poet confesses the secret nature of the relationship and the tone change continues as
the poet feels he has been deceived and forgotten by the lady.
Stanza 5: The poem returns to the beginning, in silence and in tears. The poet has been unable to
move forward since the parting and does not see himself being able to move on in the future.
Organised Notes Additional Notes
The poem is about the painful end of a relationship, with suggestions
that it was a secret and forbidden love. It is told from the viewpoint of
the poet who is struck by grief. It has bitter and melancholic tone.
The structure of the poem is regular in rhythm and rhyme and highly
controlled. It signifies a sense of deep reflection about the day and the
relationship, as though the poet has considered it very carefully.
Although the poem moves between time frames (past, present and
future) the repetition of ‘silence and tears’ at both the beginning and
end creates a circular structure. This shows that poet is unable to move
forward and is stuck with his despair.
The poem uses a semantic field of death. The poem is riddled with
references to death and loss. Pale, sever, knell, grieve etc. The death of
the relationship is also a ‘death’ of his happiness, emotion and future.
He is mourning the loss of his love.
The poem uses language to foreshadow the inevitable end of the

relationship. Part of the poet’s bitterness comes from the signs that
surrounded him that the relationship was doomed. Foretold, warning,
knell, deceive etc. There is anger that he gave so much love and yet he
was ultimately rejected.
The poem juxtaposes knowledge and silence/secrecy. There is a clear

contrast between the knowledge the poet has and the knowledge of
others. ‘They know not I knew thee’ In the same way there is a sharp
contrast between the silence of the couple and the gossiping voices of
others ‘They name thee before me’.
Grief Lament Confessional Melancholic Notorious Anonymity
Mourning Forbidden Regret Bitter Scandal/ Inevitable

Scandalous
Foreshadow Pathetic Fallacy Doomed Rejected Juxtaposition Wounds
AO1: Read, understand and respond to texts. Students should be able to: maintain a critical style (Ambitious Vocabulary,
Organisation) and develop an informed personal response (Point Opinion statements), refer to the text, including
quotations, (embed them) to support and illustrate interpretations
AO2: Analyse the language, form and structure used by a writer to create meanings and effects (Zoom in, Analysis), using
relevant subject terminology (Techniques) where appropriate.
AO3: Show understanding of the relationships between texts and the contexts in which they were written.
CLEAN COPY ANNOTATION: WHEN WE TWO PARTED
By Lord Byron
Annotate the poem from memory
When we two parted

In silence and tears,
Half broken-hearted
To sever for years,
Pale grew thy cheek and cold,
Colder thy kiss;
Truly that hour foretold
Sorrow to this.
The dew of the morning

Sunk chill on my brow--
It felt like the warning
Of what I feel now.
Thy vows are all broken,
And light is thy fame;
I hear thy name spoken,
And share in its shame.
They name thee before me,

A knell to mine ear;
A shudder comes o’er me--
Why wert thou so dear?
They know not I knew thee,
Who knew thee too well--
Long, long shall I rue thee,
Too deeply to tell.
In secret we met--
In silence I grieve,
That thy heart could forget,
Thy spirit deceive.
If I should meet thee
After long years,
How should I greet thee?--
With silence and tears.
HAVE YOU NOTICED:

Enjambment Semantic field Repetition
Caesura Pathetic Fallacy Regular rhyme
QUESTIONS:
1. How does the poet convey feelings of love and loss in this and one other poem of your choice?
2. How does the poet present conflict in a relationship in this and one other poem of your choice?
3. To what extent does this poem suggest a forbidden love? Compare with one other poem of your
choice.
K McCabe 2016 7
NEUTRAL TONES
by Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) THEMES:
Thomas Hardy was a Victorian novelist and poet. Much of his  Pain, Loss, Death
poetry is autobiographical, about his relationships and the failure  Bitterness, Anger
of his relationships. He famously wrote a great deal of his poetry  Nature
Context
about his first wife, Emma, who he became estranged from, and COMPARE WITH:
mourned her death for the rest of his life. Neutral Tones, however,
 Winter Swans
was written about a previous relationship that did not last. Hardy  When We Two Parted
was influenced by the Romantic poets.  Farmer’s Bride
The title ‘neutral’ suggests something without warmth, cold and emotionless. It is the opposite of
colourful.
Stanza 1: The poem begins by setting the scene with a pathetic fallacy. The combination of the
pond, winter and white sun create a cold and bleak landscape. In addition, there is a sense of
everything dying - the falling leaves, the ‘starving sod’ –natural elements, once fertile and alive and
struggling to survive – symbolic of the couple’s relationship.
Stanza 2: She doesn't look at him directly and hold his gaze, but instead her eyes ‘rove’ – moving
constantly, wandering without fixing on him. He imagines that, as she focuses on everything but him,
she is thinking over ‘tedious riddles of years ago’. This oxymoron creates rich imagery about the
frustrations that are part of their relationship. Tedious suggest dull, repetitive and riddles is
something that is a challenging puzzle – both fun and infuriating. These riddles, unresolved
arguments have continued to plague them for years. There is no solution.
Stanza 3: This stanza starts with another strong contrast, this time the juxtaposition of her smile
being ‘the deadest thing’ . This image is further extended with her ‘grin of bitterness’. What seems to
be most painful for Hardy is that she once did smile with warmth and love at him, as it was once
‘alive enough to have the strength to die’ . This smile, that turned to a grin of bitterness, should have
been his ‘ominous’ warning that the relationship was doomed.
Stanza 4: This stanza shows a change in his emotion. In recalling some of the details of the day, the
language has become increasingly powerful and bitter. Hardy acknowledges that he felt ‘deceived’ by
love, in particular, this relationship. The sun has changed from ‘white’ to ‘God-curst’ indicating that
his feelings are no longer neutral but angry and inflamed.
Stanza 4: Wrings with wrong alliteration emphasises his anguish.

Stanza 4: The irregular rhythm of the final stanza created by the mix of enjambment and caesura
shows that Hardy begins to be overwhelmed with feelings of anger. However, as soon as this
appears, it quickly dissipates. The anger fades using repetition of ‘and’ – Hardy lists the bleak
elements of the scene that day that he associates with the futile and empty relationship. Hardy
returns to his melancholic, sombre state, gazing at the pond, returning to the beginning. Like Byron,
he too is caught in a emotional cycle that he cannot move out of.
Neutral Tones is a poem about a painful memory, close to the end of a
relationship. It is told from the viewpoint of the poet and has a bitter and
resentful tone.
The poem is structured in 4 regular quatrains. This suggests highly

reflective controlled thought, as if he been replaying the memory many
times over. The poem has a circular structure, ending where it began,
beside the pond. This reveals Hardy’s inability to move forward from this
memory as the pain is still too raw.
Colour is a central motif in the poem. This is indicated clearly in the title,
but colour also features throughout the poem. The colour begins as
white and gray, and changes to God-Curst (suggesting and angry, red,
inflamed Sun). The poem ends with the repetition of the colour gray,
showing that he is left again with unresolved emotion.
The poem uses a semantic field of death and lifelessness. Imagery

suggesting death appears throughout the poem – the ground is starving,
the leaves are grey and have fallen from the trees, the smile is dead etc.
The poem uses a series of opposites to present the relationship. The

poem is full of juxtaposition and oxymoron. Where there should be love,
there is coldness, where there should be intimacy between them, there
is ‘wandering’, where there should be warmth and genuine emotion,
there is a forced grin, deception and frustration.
Bitter Pathetic Oxymoron Ominous Anguish Dissipates

fallacy
Resentful Futility Unresolved Doomed Inflamed Melancholic
Infuriating Plague Fertile Bleak Irregular Sombre
CLEAN COPY ANNOTATION: NEUTRAL TONES
Annotate the poem from memory by Thomas Hardy
We stood by a pond that winter day,

And the sun was white, as though chidden of God,
And a few leaves lay on the starving sod,
- They had fallen from an ash, and were gray.
Your eyes on me were as eyes that rove

Over tedious riddles solved years ago;
And some words played between us to and fro -
On which lost the more by our love.
The smile on your mouth was the deadest thing

Alive enough to have strength to die;
And a grin of bitterness swept thereby
Like an ominous bird a-wing….
Since then, keen lessons that love deceives,

And wrings with wrong, have shaped to me
Your face, and the God-curst sun, and a tree,
And a pond edged with grayish leaves.
HAVE YOU NOTICED:

Enjambment Semantic field Oxymoron
Caesura Juxtaposition Alliteration
QUESTIONS:
1. Compare the feelings of anger and bitterness conveyed in this poem and one
other of your choice.
2. How is conflict in a relationship presented in this poem and one other of your
choice?
3. How are painful memories presented in this poem and one other poem of your
choice? K McCabe 2016 10
WINTER SWANS THEMES:
 Distance
 Nature
By Owen Sheers (1974 - )  Anger, Bitterness
 Reconciliation
Owen Sheers is a Welsh poet born in 1974, so Winter Swans is a
contemporary poem. Much of Sheers’ poetry draws upon COMPARE WITH:
Context
natural landscapes. This poem was taken from a collection

 Neutral Tones
called Skirrid Hill. This can be literally translated as ‘shattered  Letters From Yorkshire
mountain’. The word Skirrid in Welsh can also be interpreted as  Singh Song
‘divorce’ or separate’.  Sonnet 29
The title shows that the Swans are the central characters in this poem, rather than the couple.
Stanza 1: The poem begins with the personification of the clouds The clouds had given their all. This
is pathetic fallacy, setting the stormy, turbulent scene, and metaphorically represents the couple
who have also ’given their all’. The break in the rain gives the couple the opportunity to walk,
exhausted from the energy used over the previous 2 days arguing.
Stanza 1: It is useful to note here that the poet refers to himself and his partner as ‘we’. We, us and
our are used throughout the poem which indicates that despite their difficulties, they are still very
much together and a couple.
Stanza 2: Continues with more personification – the earth ‘gulping for breath’. Gulping has
connotations of something struggling to survive. In addition, the ‘waterlogged’ earth is unstable
and not solid, just like the couple’s relationship at this time.
Stanza 2: the couple ’skirt’ the lake. The verb ‘to skirt’ is often used with ‘around’ (to skirt around
something, usually a problem or an issue) . The couple are forced to skirt around the lake as they
cannot physically cross it, but they are also skirting around their problems in silence.
Stanza 3: This marks a change in tone after the arrival of the swans. They distract the couple with a
‘show’, and are perfectly united.
Stanza 4: There are several images in this stanza which seem to refer to solid, strong foundations.
The ‘iceberg of white feather’ suggests that there is more to the couple than surface problems,
likewise, the boats ‘righting in rough weather’ have stable bottoms and will find their way upright.
Stanza 1-5: Many of the sounds are consonant sounds, showing the tension in their relationship
through harsh sounds.
Stanza 5: The silence is broken by direct speech and marks the beginning of the couple
communicating and resolving their issues.
Stanza 5: A metaphor is used to liken the swans to ‘porcelain’ a fine china. This symbolises the
couple – delicate and in need of protection, but strong.
Stanza 5: Light begins to enter the scene – ‘The afternoon light’
Stanza 6: Sibilance is used to show a change in their emotions as their hands move towards each
other. The sibilant sounds are soft.
Stanza 7: A simile compares their hands to wings settling after flight. The couple are reunited and
reconciled.
The poem focuses on a couple experiencing conflict and difficulty in their
relationship. It is told from the viewpoint of one of the couple, most likely
the man. It begins with a tense mood. This changes to a reflective and
tranquil atmosphere, after the couple observe the actions of a pair of
swans. The swans metaphorically mirror the couple.
The poem is structured in 6 irregular tercets and a final couplet. The line
lengths are uneven and there is no rhyme. This emphasises the
disjointedness and disharmony of the couple. However, after the
moment of reconciliation in the poem, the final stanza is a couplet. This
could be symbolic of the couple beginning to come back together again.
The poem uses nature to explore feelings. The poem begins in a cold and
turbulent setting. This represents the couple and their conflict. The
swans teach the couple to reflect on their own behaviour towards each
other, and as a result their behaviour changes – the light comes, the
earth begins to firm (from waterlogged to shingle and sand) and they
reunite.
The couple are only temporarily troubled. Unlike some of the other
relationships in the anthology, the couple in Winter Swans still love each
other. They are frustrated and experiencing disharmony, but still
consider themselves unified (we, us, our). Essentially, like the swans they
have strong foundations and the storm will pass (boats, iceberg,
porcelain.)
Tercet Disharmony Disjointedness Pathetic Simile United /

Fallacy Unified
Couplet Tranquil Reconciliation Sibilance Reunited Tension
Personification Turbulent Distract Porcelain Consonance Foundations
CLEAN COPY ANNOTATION: WINTER SWANS
By Owen Sheers
The clouds had given their all –

two days of rain and then a break
in which we walked,
the waterlogged earth

gulping for breath at our feet
as we skirted the lake, silent and apart,
until the swans came and stopped us

with a show of tipping in unison.
As if rolling weights down their bodies to their heads
they halved themselves in the dark water,

icebergs of white feather, paused before returning again
like boats righting in rough weather.
‘They mate for life’ you said as they left,

porcelain over the stilling water. I didn’t reply
but as we moved on through the afternoon light,
slow-stepping in the lake’s shingle and sand,

I noticed our hands, that had, somehow,
swum the distance between us
and folded, one over the other,

like a pair of wings settling after flight
HAVE YOU NOTICED:

Enjambment Personification Consonance Sibilance
Caesura Simile Pathetic Fallacy Metaphor
QUESTIONS:
1. How does the poet present conflict in the relationship in this and one other
poem of your choice?
2. Explore the use of nature in this poem and one other poem of your choice.
3. ‘Winter Swans is a poem about a couple who, despite problems, are still deeply in
love’. Using this and one other poem of your choice, state to what extent you
think this is true. K McCabe 2016 13
SINGH SONG THEMES:
By Daljit Nagra (1966 - )  Joy, Romantic Love
Nagra is the son of Indian parents who moved to the UK in the  Family Bonds
 Conflict
1950’s. His family opened a corner shop when they moved to
Context
Sheffield. He wanted to use the dialect of the Indian language as COMPARE WITH:
he felt it had often been made fun of. The poem highlights the
 I Think of Thee
merging of two cultures, as well as the love between a man and  Porphyria’s Lover
his new bride.  Winter Swans
The title is a pun and play on words - ‘sing song’ means harmonious and melodic. Singh is an Indian name that
was used by Sikh communities, and is the surname of the shopkeeper ‘Singh, where you been?’ . This helps to
set the light tone of the poem and locate it within a specific cultural community. This is Mr Singh’s song.
Stanza 1: The poem opens in strong dialect to create a vivid image of the narrator. He complains of
pressures from his family to continue the tradition of working hard in the family shop. His father is
obviously successful ‘one ov my daddy’s shops’ and it could be argued that Singh wants to honour his
father ‘daddy’. However, he disobeys him by locking the shop when nobody is in to be with his wife.
Stanza 2: His new bride waits for him upstairs and he is in the honeymoon phase of lust & excitement.
Stanza 3: Introduces the customers voices, ‘di shoppers always point and cry’ who are also
complaining about the tidiness of his shop and quality of the goods.
Stanza 4: His focus returns in stanza 4 to his wife, she dominates his every thought. We begin to get
a glimpse of the woman who has him so rapt. She is busy on the internet, ’netting two cat on her Sikh
lover site’. It is slightly ambiguous but suggests that she runs a dating site for Sikh men.
Stanza 5 – 7: The following 3 stanzas create a detailed picture of the wife. She is rebellious and
irreverent. She does not abide by the traditions of respecting her elders. She swears at her husband’s
mother, makes fun of his father. Her dress merges British and Sikh cultures, mixing Punk dress with
traditional sari and pumps. Her appearance is not conventionally feminine with a ‘red crew cut’ and
‘donkey jacket’. We have the impression of a domineering woman with the metaphor ‘tiny eyes ov a
gun’ for whom, all he feels is love - ‘tummy ov a teddy’. The repetition ‘My bride’ with assonant
sounds sounds like a loving and longing sigh, juxtaposing the description he has just given of her.
Stanza 8: Returns to the chorus, reiterating his devotion to her that is distracting him from his work.
Stanza 9: Moves the action forward to the evening, when the shop is shut. The language choices here
convey magic, fun and excitement, like children ‘midnight hour, whispering stairs, silver, chocolate
bars, brightey* moon’. There is something joyous, innocent and exciting about the love he feels for
his wife. *Nagra has also stated that he used Brightey to sound like ‘Blighty’, and Indian nickname for
Britain (see further resources at the back for the link to Nagra’s discussion of the poem).
Stanza 10: The repetition shows an ongoing routine that has become their special time away from the
pressures and demands of both work and family. His love for his wife is made explicit and he states
she is ‘priceless’.
Singh Song is the story of a recently married Indian shopkeeper, who
would rather spend all of his time with his new wife, than honouring his
father, running the family business. It is written in the persona of the Mr
Singh, the shopkeeper and has a joyous, uplifting and romantic tone,
despite the conflict that being newly married has created.
The poem is irregular in terms of stanzas and uses a number of different

stanza forms. These play with various conventions of poetry such as
nursery rhymes, rhyming couplets and song lyrics. The poem uses both
rhyme and half-rhyme and has a lyrical, melodious quality. The repetition
of the chorus creates both the song like quality, but also emphasises the
repetitiveness of the work that he does, the conflict he feels between
work, family and love.
Despite the conflict in the relationship, the speaker loves his wife. He is
indifferent to the complaints of the customers and focused only on being
with his wife. The description he gives of her is of a domineering woman
eyes ov a gun, who dresses in a masculine, aggressive way. She is also a
cunning and shrewd businesswoman. He loves her and is blind to how
she may appear to others. Finally, he refers, in an almost joking way, to
her interactions with his mother and father, giving no comment or
criticism. Singh is dealing with conflict on a number of levels - family,
work and culture.
The poem is full of positive, bright and childlike language. The poem is
full of bright colours (lemon, lime, red, silver) Mr Singh, although an
adult, has the status of a child in the family and so responds like one,
with a lack of responsibility, rebellious nature and simplistic childlike,
romantic responses (teddy, pinching my sweeties).
Pun Rapt Punk Assonant Devotion Lyrical
Disobeys Rebellious Conventional indifferent Romantic Melodious
Dominates Irreverent Domineering Reiterating Culture Clash Conflict
CLEAN COPY ANNOTATION: SINGH SONG
Annotate the poem from memory By Daljit Nagra
I run just one ov my daddy's shops

from 9 o'clock to 9 o'clock
and he vunt me not to hav a break
but ven nobody in, I do di lock –
cos up di stairs is my newly bride

vee share in chapatti
vee share in di chutney
after vee hav made luv
like vee rowing through Putney –
Ven I return vid my pinnie untied

di shoppers always point and cry:
Hey Singh, ver yoo bin?
Yor lemons are limes
yor bananas are plantain,
dis dirty little floor need a little bit of mop
in di worst Indian shop
on di whole Indian road -
Above my head high heel tap di ground

as my vife on di web is playing wid di mouse
ven she netting two cat on her Sikh lover site
she book dem for di meat at di cheese ov her price –
my bride
she effing at my mum
in all di colours of Punjabi
den stumble like a drunk
making fun at my daddy
my bride
tiny eyes ov a gun
and di tummy ov a teddy
my bride
she hav a red crew cut
and she wear a Tartan sari
a donkey jacket and some pumps
on di squeak ov di girls dat are pinching my sweeties –
Ven I return from di tickle ov my bride

di shoppers always point and cry:
Hey Singh, ver yoo bin?
Di milk is out ov date
and di bread is alvays stale,
di tings yoo hav on offer yoo hav never got in stock
in di worst Indian shop
on di whole Indian Kroad
McCabe
– 2016 16
Continued
CLEAN COPY ANNOTATION: SINGH SONG
Annotate the poem from memory By Daljit Nagra
Late in di midnight hour

ven yoo shoppers are wrap up quiet
ven di precinct is concrete-cool
vee cum down whispering stairs
and sit on my silver stool,
from behind di chocolate bars
vee stare past di half-price window signs

at di beaches ov di UK in di brightey moon –
from di stool each night she say,

How much do yoo charge for dat moon baby?
from di stool each night I say,

Is half di cost ov yoo baby,
from di stool each night she say,

How much does dat come to baby?
from di stool each night I say,

Is priceless baby -
HAVE YOU NOTICED:

Enjambment Semantic field Juxtaposition
Caesura Repetition Metaphor
QUESTIONS:
1. Compare how the poet presents feelings of love this and one other poem of your
choice.
2. How does the poet convey family bonds in this and one other poem of your
choice.
3. Compare how poets present attitudes towards conflict in relationships in this
and one other poem of your choice.
K McCabe 2016 17
LOVE’S PHILOSOPHY THEMES:
 Joy, Passion
 Desire , Longing
By Percy Shelley (1792 – 1822)  Nature
A Romantic poet, who was a well known atheist in an age when  Unrequited Love
many people engaged in religious practices – going to church,
COMPARE WITH:
Context
respect for religious beliefs etc. Shelley was expelled from Oxford
for his views. He had scandalous relationships, and is best known  Farmer’s Bride
 When We Two Parted
for his marriage to Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein and  Sonnet 29 I Think of Thee
friendship with Lord Byron. He drowned at the age of 29 .  Letters from Yorkshire
The title suggests there is a higher knowledge or wisdom about love than the thoughts and feelings
of individual people, as though there are generally accepted, logical, unwritten laws about love.
Shelley is suggesting that we are governed by these natural instincts.
Stanza 1: The poet takes a range of powerful natural elements, ‘fountains, rivers, oceans, wind’ and
personifies them. This aims to draw a sharp parallel between the actions of nature and the couple.
Shelley uses the structure of traditional logical argument to draw a comparison between nature
and his relationship (If x + y = xy then you + me = ) He argues that all nature ’mingles’, there is no
separating the individual elements as they both join and are created from each other. If his loved
one accepts this philosophy of nature, then she cannot deny that they too should ‘mingle’ and
‘mix’ and make their relationship more physical, even if it is to simply share a kiss.
Stanza 1: Shelley calls on the ‘law divine’, a clear religious reference to make his point even more
persuasive and strong. As a known Atheist, Shelley would use any means to win his argument. In an
ironic way he is using typical motifs & symbols of romantic love to suggest his intentions & desires
are natural and pure, so that he may win the opportunity to seduce her into a physical relationship.
Stanza 2: Starts with an imperative ‘See’ to suggest he is becoming slightly more impatient with her
reluctance and restraint. This is also shown with the move from gentle verbs ‘mix’ and ‘mingle’ to
‘clasp’, meaning grip or hold tightly, conveying the sense of a more urgent and forceful desire.
Stanza 2: He continues using religious imagery, again a powerful appeal to the young lady, stating
that the mountains ‘kiss high heaven’.
Stanza 2: Shelley then uses an emotionally manipulative appeal, claiming that no ’sister-flower’
(symbolising the lady) ‘would be forgiven if it disdained its brother’ (symbolisng Shelley). This is
designed to make the lady feel guilty for rejecting his advances.
Stanza 2: Throughout this stanza repetition of ‘And’ is used. This has a listing effect, as if Shelley is
presenting reason after reason why the woman should succumb to his wishes.
Stanza 2: In the final lines ‘the sweet work’ that Shelley refers to is the work of God. He implies
that the lady is directly responsible for making the ‘mingling’ of the natural world meaningless by
refusing him ‘If thou kiss not me?’.
Stanza 2: Finishing the poem on another rhetorical question, Shelley has constructed a strong
argument to win her affection, in which she is unable to provide a reasonable defence.
The poem is an romantic plea to persuade a young lady to succumb to
physical desire and kiss the man. It is told from the viewpoint of the male
and addresses the lady directly. It has a light & joyously passionate tone.
The poem has both a regular structure and regular rhyme scheme. This
indicates a highly reflective and considered line of thought. The two
stanzas follow a similar pattern which begins with multiple examples to
persuade the young lady, finishing with a rhetorical question. The rhyme
scheme mixes masculine rhyme (single final syllable rhyme) with feminine
rhyme (two syllable rhyme), further enhancing his ‘philosophy’ that
masculine and feminine should mix and mingle. The poem is written in
simple language, typical of the Romantic poets. This simplicity echoes the
simplicity and purity Shelley is alluding to with his passionate intentions &
desire. Finally, Shelley’s use of punctuation throughout the poem is also
significant. Each stanza represents a single long sentence punctuated with
colons and semi-colons. This structure shows in an almost child-like way,
Shelley’s persistence in the quest for his love.
The poem uses a strong semantic field of nature. This is the central
conceit of the poem - the argument that in the same way natural
elements mix, humans are designed to behave in a similar way. Nature is
also a typical Romantic motif, with Shelley focusing the lady’s attention
on the most beautiful natural elements to appeal to her. Nature is
personified, creating a sharp parallel between the purity of the natural
world and the purity of their love. Likewise, her restraint and rejection is
seen as unnatural and unforgivable.
The religious imagery is powerful. This reinforces the sense that her
submission to him is morally right and virtuous. Shelley’s position as an
Atheist enables us to interpret this as something slightly more
manipulative and unscrupulous. It seems ironic and that, as a
passionate lover, he would be prepared to say anything in his quest for a
kiss.
Conceit Irony Restraint Rejecting Succumb Quest
Logic Imperative Appeal Atheist Manipulative Parallel
Unscrupulous Implies Personifies Plea Persistence Seduce

CLEAN COPY ANNOTATION: LOVE’S PHILOSOPHY
Annotate the poem from memory by Percy Bysshe Shelley
The fountains mingle with the river

And the rivers with the ocean,
The winds of heaven mix for ever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
In one spirit meet and mingle.
Why not I with thine?—
See the mountains kiss high heaven

And the waves clasp one another;
No sister-flower would be forgiven
If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth
And the moonbeams kiss the sea:
What is all this sweet work worth
If thou kiss not me?
HAVE YOU NOTICED:

Metaphor Semantic field Repetition
Personification Imperative Rhetorical Question
QUESTIONS:
1. How does the poet convey feelings of love and longing in this and one other
2. To what extent does this poem deal with unwanted love? Compare with one
other poem of your choice.
3. How does the setting of nature allow the poet to explore feelings of love in this
and one other poem of your choice?
K McCabe 2016 20
THE FARMER’S BRIDE
By Charlotte Mew (1869 – 1928) THEMES:
Mew was a Victorian poet, who had a hard upbringing in poverty.
 Pain, Loss, Death
Many of her family suffered mental health problems and she was  Desire, Longing
terrified of experiencing the same difficulties. Her poems were  Nature
often told using a male persona, who were social outcasts. She was  Unrequited Love
Context
recognised as a great talent by many poets in her day, including COMPARE WITH:
Thomas Hardy (Neutral Tones). The Farmer’s Bride symbolises
 Porphyria’s Lover
several different elements such as women in society in the Victorian  When We Two Parted
age, the natural world vs industrialization and desire over fear.  Neutral Tones
In this poem, the Farmer is the speaker and the focus of the poem is his bride, referred to in the title.
Stanza 1: The poem begins with a time reference that is immediately unnerving when considering
the nameless girl. It has been ’three years’ since she married and yet she is still referred to as the
bride. This suggests that in all that time there has been no acceptance of her role, moving towards
becoming a wife, rather she remains a bride.
Stanza 1: The Farmer’s attitude is clear as he acknowledge that she was ‘too young’ but he has more
important things to do than ‘bide and woo’. He is a practical and hard-working man, unable and
reluctant to deal with the complexities of human emotion.
Stanza 1: The impact of the wedding on the young girl is apparent from the wedding day – ‘she
turned afraid’ and became ‘like the shut of a winter's day’ ‘Her smile went out’. The winter image
emphasises the cold, numb emotional state of the girl. The reader is only given clues about the girl
as she is voiceless throughout. That she smiled, implies that before she was chosen as a bride (again
‘chosen’ highlights the lack of her choice – something being done to her) she was a happy, young
lady.
Stanza 1: The girl is likened to a ‘frightened fay’ (fairy). This dehumanises her, making her human
emotions alien, inexplicable and unaccounted for – the Farmer makes no effort to understand the
girl.
Stanza 1: The last line of Stanza 1 is shocking ‘One night, in the Fall, she runned away’, and gives a
further clue about her deep unhappiness. The simplistic grammatical structure of ‘runned’ conveys
the simplicity of the Farmer, and how poorly equipped he is to deal with how withdrawn and
traumatized the girl is from the marriage.
Stanza 2: The reference to ’They’, the villagers, and their support for the Farmer by revealing her
location, highlights her isolation and low status, low power. In addition, the farmer remembers how
‘we’ chased her, again emphasising the girl as different and separate to the villagers.
Stanza 2: The girl is described, using a simile, as ‘like a hare’. She is reduced to an animal, prey being
hunted by the man and his helpers, until she is eventually ‘caught’ ‘fetched home’ and locked in a
room.
Stanza 3: Provides some light relief in the life of the girl. The stanza shows her carrying out menial
household tasks ‘like a mouse’, comfortable in the presence of animals – birds and rabbits, but still
terrified of the farmer. Again the use of a plural pronoun ‘Us’ sounds threatening, as if the girl feels
frequently vulnerable in her interactions with others.
Stanza 3: The reference to the ‘women’ further disconnects the girl from others, she has no links to
other people, but is frequently linked to the natural and animal world. The women ‘say’ and discuss
the girl implying that she is an oddity, someone whose behaviour is gossiped about by others.
Stanza 4: A short 4 line stanza in which the Farmer begins to express his feelings of rejection. Four
similes are used comparing the girl to natural elements - a young hare, a young tree and wild violets
– each vulnerable, not fully matured, and without adult strength. The use of sibilance in this stanza
suggests an almost whispered description of the girl, as he attempts to control his feelings.
Stanza 5: Shows the inevitable changes that occur in the natural world. The season begins to turn
towards winter. This pathetic fallacy suggests something dying, perhaps the Farmer’s patience and
gentleness, and are a foreboding glimpse of the future. The Farmer feels the need for children and
his frustration with the situation is clear. The colours of this stanza become darker ‘brown, blue, grey,
black, red’, symbolising a dark time approaching.
Stanza 6: Continues with the sense of foreboding. She is in the attic, as physically far from the Farmer
as she could be. The repetition used in the final stanza to describe her physical features ‘down,
brown, hair’ expose his inability to control his desires and emotions for much longer. The caesura in
these lines suggest he is being flooded with images of her. The exclamation marks show he is
becoming increasingly emotional and is losing control.
K McCabe 2016 22
The poem is the story of a young woman taken as a bride for a Farmer
and her unhappiness that follows. It is told from the viewpoint of the
Farmer and the young bride remains voiceless throughout. It has an
unnerving tone.
The structure of the poem is irregular in stanza length but there is a

strong rhyme scheme, though this too, does not have a clear pattern. The
irregularity of the stanzas suggests that something is not right about the
relationship between the Farmer and his bride, that there is a sense of
imbalance. It also highlights the Farmer’s inability to control his thoughts
as the structure becomes increasingly irregular towards the end.
The poem uses natural and animal imagery to portray the girl. The
farmer understands nature but he doesn’t understand emotions and
women. He recognises her vulnerability but he has a functional
relationship with nature, it is profitable and helps him earn his living. In
the same way, the young girl’s role is to provide him with children. This
could be Mew’s criticism of the increasing industrialization of the
countryside – that it was being used for purpose, without protecting its
fragile beauty, in the same way the young girl is used by the farmer. In
addition, the natural world changes throughout the poem, moving
through seasons. Like nature, the situation the girl finds herself in cannot
stay fixed forever, there is an underlying ominous sense of inevitable
change.
The poem clearly exposes relationships between men and women. The
girl is voiceless and powerless and nameless – simply a possession of the
Farmer. Their home is a microcosm of the role of women in society at the
time. The girl has freedom taken away from her, completes mundane
tasks and is expected to bear children. The men, by contrast, are active,
and in control.
The poem could also be a comment on the treatment of those who are emotionally vulnerable and
unstable in society. The girl was happy before the relationship but the marriage causes a deep trauma
as she becomes withdrawn and isolated. It is clear her behaviour is seen as odd, due to the references
to others – the villagers.
Complexity Isolation Dehumanizes Traumatised Oddity Inevitable
Voiceless Prey Plural Pronouns Vulnerable Unnerving Microcosm
Inexplicable Withdrawn Isolation Disconnect Foreboding Rejection

CLEAN COPY ANNOTATION:
Annotate the poem from memory THE FARMER’S BRIDE
By Charlotte Mew
Three summers since I chose a maid,

Too young maybe—but more’s to do
At harvest-time than bide and woo.
When us was wed she turned afraid
Of love and me and all things human;
Like the shut of a winter’s day
Her smile went out, and ’twadn’t a woman—
More like a little frightened fay.
One night, in the Fall, she runned away.
“Out ’mong the sheep, her be,” they said,

’Should properly have been abed;
But sure enough she wadn’t there
Lying awake with her wide brown stare.
So over seven-acre field and up-along across the down
We chased her, flying like a hare
Before out lanterns. To Church-Town
All in a shiver and a scare
We caught her, fetched her home at last
And turned the key upon her, fast.
She does the work about the house

As well as most, but like a mouse:
Happy enough to chat and play
With birds and rabbits and such as they,
So long as men-folk keep away.
“Not near, not near!” her eyes beseech
When one of us comes within reach.
The women say that beasts in stall
Look round like children at her call.
I’ve hardly heard her speak at all.
Continued
K McCabe 2016 24
CLEAN COPY ANNOTATION: THE FARMER’S BRIDE
By Charlotte Mew
Shy as a leveret, swift as he,

Straight and slight as a young larch tree,
Sweet as the first wild violets, she,
To her wild self. But what to me?
The short days shorten and the oaks are brown,

The blue smoke rises to the low grey sky,
One leaf in the still air falls slowly down,
A magpie’s spotted feathers lie
On the black earth spread white with rime,
The berries redden up to Christmas-time.
What’s Christmas-time without there be
Some other in the house than we!
She sleeps up in the attic there

Alone, poor maid. ’Tis but a stair
Betwixt us. Oh! my God! the down,
The soft young down of her, the brown,
The brown of her—her eyes, her hair, her hair!
HAVE YOU NOTICED:

Enjambment Semantic field Repetition
Caesura Simile Colour
QUESTIONS:
1. How is nature used to explore human relationships in this and one other poem of
your choice?
2. Compare the unhappiness that loss and longing brings in this poem and one
other of your choice.
3. Compare what the speaker reveals about his loved one in this poem and one
other poem of your choice. K McCabe 2016 25
PORPHYRIA’S LOVER
By Robert Browning (1812 – 1889)
Browning was an important Victorian poet, who married Elizabeth THEMES:
Barrett Browning (Sonnet 29). The Victorian Era was known for its sense  Secret Love
of morality, the line between public respectability and private  Pain, Death
behaviour, religious beliefs and attitudes to women. Browning admired  Desire , Longing, Obsession
 Unrequited Love
the Romantic poets, but was most successful when he found his own
unique style. He became known for dramatic monologues, often voiced COMPARE WITH:
Context
by dark personas. Porphyria’s Lover was part of a 2 poem collection

 Farmer’s Bride
called ‘Madhouse Cells’, with the second poem also about a disturbed  When We Two Parted
man. Porphyria translates as purple (colour), which is often associated  Sonnet 29 I Think of Thee
with royalty and could be a clue to the difficulties faced by the lovers.  Neutral Tones
The title is often overlooked and was adapted by Browning 30 years after being written, changing it
from Porphyria to Porphyria’s Lover. Whilst Porphyria is named in the title, the poem is about her
lover, the man, and is told from his point of view. However, Browning, in the persona of the man, is
cleverly and frustratingly ambiguous. Additionally, the use of the word ‘lover’ suggests a sexual and
possibly illicit love affair, one that is not approved by others for whatever reason. There is an implicit
sense of Porphyria’s guilt in the title.
The poem begins with pathetic fallacy of a stormy setting, to foreshadow later events. The ‘sullen’
wind is personified and appears spiteful and mischievous, doing ‘its worst to vex the lake’. Despite
the violence of the storm, the rural setting is also a Victorian romantic ideal, beautiful and simple,
which lulls the reader into a false sense of security.
The man sits ‘with heart fit to break’ though there is not indication why. This is the beginning of the
ambiguity. It could be from excitement as he waits for Porphyria, it could be with grief or anger.
Whatever, Browning intended this as dramatic irony so that the reader knows, in the stormy setting,
the man is waiting, full of emotion, building tension. This irony is increased with the entrance of
Porphyria, ‘gliding’, oblivious to the man’s emotional state.
Porphyria’s impact on the scene is immediate, shutting out the ‘cold’ and the ‘storm’ and making the
’cheerless grate blaze up’. She epitomises warmth and comfort. She is noticeably active and
dominant in the opening of the poem, she tends to the cottage, tends to herself and then to the
man, whilst he sits passively observing.
The man comments on her ‘soiled gloves’. This conveys an image of something dirty, damaged and
unclean, a possible indication of how he views Porphyria.
The man continues to be silent, simply observing Porphyria. ’When no voice replied’ she begins to
appeal for attention ‘making her white shoulder bare’, and ‘murmuring how she loved’ him. His
passive, emotionless study of her builds tension, knowing how his ‘heart was fit to break’.
He then describes her as ‘too weak’, the first clear subjective comment. His view is that she does not
have strength, despite ‘her heart’s endeavor, To set its struggling passion free from pride.’ Porphyria is
content to be a ‘lover’, hence the implicit guilt, but not ’dissever’ herself from her ‘vainer ties’ and
‘give herself’ to the man forever.
‘But passion would sometimes prevail’ Passion is both love and longing as well as anger and suffering.
This is further ambiguity, and a possible, deliberate pun given the repetition from the ‘passion’
Porphyria feels 3 lines earlier. It is possible that his anger would sometimes ‘prevail’ or overcome
him.
The idea of anger overwhelming him extends to the following line ‘ Nor could to-night’s gay feast
restrain a sudden thought of one so pale’ . Even his happiness and joy of being with her and in her
company cannot stop his inner rage and need to possess her fully , a sudden image of the violence he
might inflict would leave her ‘so pale’ because he is consumed by love for her, which he
acknowledges in ‘all in vain’
He engages with her by ‘looking up at her eyes’, the first moment of interaction between them, but
still silent. He then feels filled with love from Porphyria, that he is ‘worshipped’. Again, a passive ,
dysfunctional love between them.
The repetition of ‘mine, mine’ signals the man’s desire to fix the moment forever and make it last.
Juxtaposition is used to show Porphyria’s change from ’soiled’ to ‘perfectly pure and good’.
Browning uses anastrophe to reveal the details of her murder – ‘three times her little throat…’. This is
largely used to maintain the rhyme scheme. However, it also delays the horrific details of the event,
finishing in a similar way to a periodic sentence with the final clause ‘And strangled her.’ This delay
makes the moment more shocking.
Repetition of ‘pain’ is used as the speaker attempts to convince himself that his deed was merciful.
The fear the man feels about his act is likened to the fear of opening a flower which holds a bee. The
bee, like Porphyria, may be angry and seeking revenge. This is what he imagines he may see in her
eyes. By contrast, he sees ‘laughing.. blue eyes’ and a ‘blushing cheek’.
Porphyria, so active at the beginning, now needs her head ’propped’ up as it ‘droops’.
The end of the poem vividly conveys the sense of the speaker as an unreliable and delusional
narrator. He talks of her ‘darling one wish’ being heard allowing them to sit together all night. His
final statement to convince himself of the morality of his actions is his observation that ‘God has not
said a word’.
K McCabe 2016 27
The poem deals with the fatal meeting of two lovers. It is a dramatic
monologue, told from a first person viewpoint in the persona of the
male lover. It has a dark, ambiguous and sinister tone throughout.
The poem is written in a single stanza, typical of a dramatic monologue.

It is highly structured in terms of rhyme and rhythm. This is intended to
mirror the highly logical, structured, calm, reasoned mind of the narrator,
making the climax even more shocking. The characters are also mirrored
in the poem, as the beginning sees an active Porphyria tending to her
lover whilst he is silent and still and ends in reverse, with the roles
swapped.
The poem explores obsessive love. There is a sense of disquiet from the
start of the poem with the narrator describing his ‘heart’ as being ‘fit to
break’. The tension builds from this dramatic irony and all that is left
unsaid throughout the poem. Browning’s narrator does not explicitly
voice his feelings and motivation, instead leaves the audience to pick up
clues. It is clear that this is not healthy, reciprocal love as he observes
her coldly, refuses to answer her and feels morally right for committing
murder.
The poem is full of spoken & unspoken horror. The harmonious, lyrical
structure of the poem juxtaposes with the sinister events. The use of
anastrophe delicately and slowly reveals the shocking murder. The end
tableau, rather than a romantic scene, is an image of a cold murderer.
Typical of the Victorian Era, the woman is voiceless. The ‘love’ and
‘relationship’ is shown through the eyes of the male. The reader is only
able to see her perspective through the eyes of the unreliable male
narrator. Likewise the actions of the narrator after the murder make his
delusions clear.
Natural imagery is used to convey human emotion. The references to

the natural world are violent and powerful. The opening scene
foreshadows the dark tense atmosphere ahead. The storm tears down
trees for fun/spite showing its power and control. The man also
describes the woman like a ‘bee’, angry and looking for revenge.
Fatal Sinister Passive Anastrophe Oblivious Implicit

Dramatic Ambiguous Delusional Reciprocal Epitomises Pun
monologue
Persona Dominant Unreliable Dramatic Emotionless Dysfunctional
narrator irony
CLEAN COPY ANNOTATION: PORPHYRIA’S LOVER
Annotate the poem from memory by Robert Browning
The rain set early in to-night,

The sullen wind was soon awake,
It tore the elm-tops down for spite,
And did its worst to vex the lake:
I listened with heart fit to break.
When glided in Porphyria; straight
She shut the cold out and the storm,
And kneeled and made the cheerless grate
Blaze up, and all the cottage warm;
Which done, she rose, and from her form
Withdrew the dripping cloak and shawl,
And laid her soiled gloves by, untied
Her hat and let the damp hair fall,
And, last, she sat down by my side
And called me. When no voice replied,
She put my arm about her waist,
And made her smooth white shoulder bare,
And all her yellow hair displaced,
And, stooping, made my cheek lie there,
And spread, o'er all, her yellow hair,
Murmuring how she loved me — she
Too weak, for all her heart's endeavour,
To set its struggling passion free
From pride, and vainer ties dissever,
And give herself to me for ever.
But passion sometimes would prevail,
Nor could to-night's gay feast restrain
A sudden thought of one so pale
For love of her, and all in vain:
So, she was come through wind and rain.
Be sure I looked up at her eyes
Happy and proud; at last I knew
Porphyria worshipped me; surprise
Made my heart swell, and still it grew
While I debated what to do.
Continued
K McCabe 2016 29
CLEAN COPY ANNOTATION: PORPHYRIA’S LOVER
Annotate the poem from memory by Robert Browning
That moment she was mine, mine, fair,

Perfectly pure and good: I found
A thing to do, and all her hair
In one long yellow string I wound
Three times her little throat around,
And strangled her. No pain felt she;
I am quite sure she felt no pain.
As a shut bud that holds a bee,
I warily oped her lids: again
Laughed the blue eyes without a stain.
And I untightened next the tress
About her neck; her cheek once more
Blushed bright beneath my burning kiss:
I propped her head up as before,
Only, this time my shoulder bore
Her head, which droops upon it still:
The smiling rosy little head,
So glad it has its utmost will,
That all it scorned at once is fled,
And I, its love, am gained instead!
Porphyria's love: she guessed not how
Her darling one wish would be heard.
And thus we sit together now,
And all night long we have not stirred,
And yet God has not said a word!
HAVE YOU NOTICED:

Nature Pathetic fallacy Repetition
Juxtaposition Personification Anastrophe
QUESTIONS:
1. How is love presented as a destructive force in this and one other poem of your
choice?
2. How does the speaker reveal the object of the poem in this and one other poem
of your choice?
3. How does the poet suggest different feelings towards the relationship in this and
one other poem of your choice? K McCabe 2016 30
SONNET 29 ‘I THINK OF THEE’
THEMES:
 Secret Love
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806 – 1861)  Desire , Longing
Barrett Browning was in ill health for much of her life. She had  Nature
 Joy, Passion
an overbearing father who refused permission for any of his
Context
daughters to marry. She was a very successful and famous poet COMPARE WITH:
in her lifetime. Elizabeth and another poet, Robert Browning  Letters from Yorkshire
 Love’s Philosophy
(Porphyria’s Lover) began writing letters to each other in secret  Porphyria’s Lover
and eventually married. She was disinherited by her father.  Singh Song
The poem contains a central extended metaphor of the poet’s feelings for her lover. She compares
herself to vines encircling a tree. This illuminates the way that Barrett Browning sees her
relationship – he is a solid, stable and strong ‘tree’, she is the ‘vine’ that surrounds it. Her love and
passion could be seen as all-encompassing, possibly possessive and obsessive.
She recognises how overwhelming her thoughts are, as her vine ‘put(s) out broad leaves, and soon
there’s nought to see’. Her thoughts are suffocating and smothering, so that she loses sight of her
‘image’ of him.
The poet describes her lover metaphorically as a ‘palm tree’. Victorians loved palm trees, which
reminded them of far off lands and adventure. It also has exotic connotations. She could believe
that her lover can transport her from her unhappy, solitary life with her family, to a fulfilled future.
The poet is determined not to be content with her thoughts alone. ‘I will not have my thoughts
instead of thee’. If she becomes happy with just thinking of her love, there is a chance she may not
see him for some time. There is a sense of urgency that means she wants him close, not in her
thoughts.
The poet uses a series of imperatives which show her need for satisfaction and fulfillment - Renew,
Rustle, drop etc,
‘Rather’ in line 7 signifies the volta or turn in the poem. It changes the focus from how
overpowering her thoughts are of him, to a demand that he make himself physically present
‘..Instantly renew thy presence’
The poet uses euphemism to discuss things that would not be appropriate for a Victorian lady to
discuss and that have sexual undertones ’set thy trunk all bare’.
Verbs ‘burst, shattered everywhere’ suggests an inability to contain herself. The intensity of her
feelings are overwhelming her.
Repetition of Thee shows the infatuation and inability to think of anything else.
The poem is from a woman to her lover telling him how much she loves
him and longs for him to be by her side. It is told from the viewpoint of
the woman and has an impatient, excitable tone.
The poem is structured in the form of a Petrarchan sonnet, often used

as a poetic form for love poetry. However, this highly controlled form is
manipulated to demonstrate the poet’s excitement and impatience.
Whereas the Volta usually appears between the octave and the sestet,
Barrett Browning introduces the turn earlier in line 7. This emphasises
her inability to control her thoughts and desire to be with her love.
The poem uses a central extended metaphor of nature. Nature is a

common symbol in love poetry, often used to explore feelings. In
Victorian times, it was used to allow the poet to express feelings that she
would not have been able to if she had been more literal and less
metaphorical. The image also exposes and interesting power imbalance
between the poet and her love. The vines are smothering him.
The poem demonstrates an inability to control emotion. The form

highlights the overwhelming feelings the poet has. In addition, the
language is bursting with excitement & intensity, the plosive sounds
show there is nothing calm about her love. There is also an urgency
which is created by the enjambment as thoughts flood her mind.
The poet displays an obsession over the relationship. The use of

imperatives throughout command him to her Instantly, renew, rustle etc.
Her image of the vines and the tree that will ‘put out broad leaves’ so
that there’s ‘nought to see’ and eventually ‘hide the wood’ – he would
disappear from reality completely and be a mere ‘desire’ . However, she
is fully aware of this and would rather have him next to her, than be left
with her obsessive thoughts.
Petrarchan Sestet Obsessive Euphemism Plosive sounds Flood
Sonnet Volta Imperatives Intensity Smother Suffocating
Octave Extended Urgency Infatuation Exotic Solitary

Metaphor
CLEAN COPY ANNOTATION: SONNET 29 ‘I THINK OF
Annotate the poem from memory THEE’
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
I think of thee!—my thoughts do twine and bud

About thee, as wild vines, about a tree,
Put out broad leaves, and soon there 's nought to see
Except the straggling green which hides the wood.
Yet, O my palm-tree, be it understood
I will not have my thoughts instead of thee
Who art dearer, better! Rather, instantly
Renew thy presence; as a strong tree should,
Rustle thy boughs and set thy trunk all bare,
And let these bands of greenery which insphere thee
Drop heavily down,—burst, shattered, everywhere!
Because, in this deep joy to see and hear thee
And breathe within thy shadow a new air,
I do not think of thee—I am too near thee.
HAVE YOU NOTICED:

Enjambment Imperatives Verbs
Volta Repetition Extended Metaphor
QUESTIONS:
1. Compare how poets convey feelings of joy in their relationships in this and one
2. How does the poet use nature to explore her feelings in this and one other poem
of your choice?
3. To what extent is this poem about obsessive and unfulfilled love? Compare with
one other poem of your choice.
K McCabe 2016 33
WALKING AWAY THEMES:


Family Bonds
Letting Go
By Cecil Day Lewis (1904 – 1972)  Childhood
 Parental Love
Day Lewis’ mother died when he was very young and he was
Context
brought up his father. His poetry is often romantic and uses nature COMPARE WITH:
to explore personal experiences. This poem is about his son Sean,  Follower
from his first marriage. He became the Poet Laureate until his  Mother, Any Distance
death in 1972.  Eden Rock
The title of the poem is slightly ambiguous as it is not immediately clear who or why someone is
walking away.
Stanza 1: The poem sets out in the first line that this is a memory from 18 years ago. This indicates
something particularly poignant or significant about the event.
Stanza 1: The scene is set with pathetic fallacy of the ’leaves just turning’. This is symbolic of the
change from summer to autumn, a time of ageing and change, but also signifies new beginnings of
the new school year, with ‘touch-lines new-ruled’.
Stanza 1: The poet uses a simile to compare his son to a satellite which has been ‘wrenched from its
orbit’. The verb ‘wrenched’ indicates something pulled by force, separated with reluctance. The
anxiety of the poet is further highlighted is he imagines the son ‘go drifting away’. There is a sense of
powerlessness felt by the poet. The line then physically drifts, through enjambment, into stanza 2.
Stanza 2: The son is ‘behind a scatter of boys’ rather than in front of them, following and being led by
others. The word scatter also conveys a sense of unpredictable behaviour. The father is losing his
steady, firm control over his son.
Stanza 2: The father describes his emotion at this moment as ‘pathos’ – a sympathetic pity or
sadness, for the ‘half-fledged thing’ who is now ’in the wilderness’. This vividly conveys the poet’s
apprehension for his vulnerable son, whose ‘gait’ is unsteady and unsure. His inability to find a
‘path’ adds to the satellite image, of a child without anchor, rooting them to the ground. This image
is full of fricative consonants (f and th sounds). These give the line a light, flowing sound as if in
flight.
Stanza 3: Another simile likens the son to a ‘winged seed’ – again furthering the image of something
without control or purpose, aimlessly meandering.
Stanza 3: The poet creates a metaphor for the cycle of life. Events, such as this one, seemingly
insignificant, are portrayed as ‘scorching ordeals’. The verb scorch suggests burning and permanently
scarring, which, when pieced together ‘fire one’s irresolute clay’. Day Lewis compares human
experiences to the shaping and moulding of clay. Clay can be shaped in any way and needs to be fired
in an oven to harden and become solid. Before this, it can be changed and is not fixed, like people.
However, when painful events happen, they ’fire’ or harden people and leave permanent marks.
Stanza 4: Begins with a lighter, more contemplative tone, although the verb ‘gnaws’ exposes the
persistent raw pain the father feels. However, the poet reflects that this pain is a sign of deep love
and that deep love for a child means wanting to see them grow and become an independent ‘self’.
The poem is a memory a father has of watching his son walk away to
play his first game of football. He uses this simple, literal event to reflect
on the task parents have of letting go of their children. It is written from
the viewpoint of the poet as the parent, directly addressing his son. It
has a poignant and reflective tone.
Walking Away is a lyric poem in four fairly regular stanzas in terms of

rhyme and metre. This control suggests a deeply reflective poem,
confirmed by the opening line that the focus is an 18 yr old memory. The
caesura in the poem adds to the slow reflective pace. Whereas the
enjambment mimics the movement of the son away from his father.
Although the poem is about the son walking away, it s firmly focused on
the feelings of the poet. The poem addresses the son directly, but there
is repetition of ‘I’ throughout, illustrating the central feeling of anxiety in
the poem. This is clearly shown in Stanza 2 with the line ‘I can see you
walking away from me’ – it is as if this is more about what is being done
to the poet, than about the feelings of the son.
Much of the imagery suggests innocence and vulnerability, juxtaposed

with pain. The son is oblivious to the pain caused by the ‘walking away’.
Words such as ‘wrenched’, ‘wilderness’, ‘scorching ordeals’, ‘gnaws’
emphasise pain and suffering. Part of this is caused by the vulnerability
the poet recognizes in him, as ‘behind a scatter of boys’ ‘half-fledged
thing’, the unsteady ‘gait’, the ‘hesitant figure’.
The poet uses a semantic field of flight and freedom. The satellite
drifting, the half-fledged thing, the winged seed, all suggest movement
and distance. Apprehension over this freedom is shown through
accompanying words such as ‘wilderness’ and ‘wrenched’.
Oblivious Irresolute Literal Anxiety Meandering Persistent
Juxtaposed Poignant Metaphorical Permanent Scarring Contemplative
Pathetic Fallacy Reflective Fricative Vulnerable Lyric Apprehension

Consonants
CLEAN COPY ANNOTATION: WALKING AWAY
Annotate the poem from memory By Cecil Day Lewis
It is eighteen years ago, almost to the day –

A sunny day with leaves just turning,
The touch-lines new-ruled – since I watched you play
Your first game of football, then, like a satellite
Wrenched from its orbit, go drifting away
Behind a scatter of boys. I can see

You walking away from me towards the school
With the pathos of a half-fledged thing set free
Into a wilderness, the gait of one
Who finds no path where the path should be.
That hesitant figure, eddying away

Like a winged seed loosened from its parent stem,
Has something I never quite grasp to convey
About nature’s give-and-take – the small, the scorching
Ordeals which fire one’s irresolute clay.
I have had worse partings, but none that so

Gnaws at my mind still. Perhaps it is roughly
Saying what God alone could perfectly show –
How selfhood begins with a walking away,
And love is proved in the letting go.
HAVE YOU NOTICED:

Enjambment Semantic field Metaphor
Caesura Simile Pathetic Fallacy
QUESTIONS:
1. Compare how strong bonds are explored this and one other poem of your choice.
2. How is growing up explored in this poem and one other poem of your choice?
3. Compare how feelings of loss are communicated in this poem and one other of
your choice.
K McCabe 2016 36
FOLLOWER THEMES:
By Seamus Heaney (1939 – 2013)  Family Bonds
Heaney was brought up in a simple, rural family and was the  Letting Go
 Childhood
eldest of 8 children. He became an English teacher and began to  Parental Love
write poetry. He became the Professor of Poetry at Oxford and
Context
in 1995 won the Nobel prize for literature. He was also offered COMPARE WITH:
the role of Poet Laureate, an honour given by the King/Queen to  Before You Were Mine
 Walking Away
be the national Poet. Heaney turned this down because of his  Climbing my Grandfather
strong Irish roots and identity.  Mother, Any Distance
The title is ambiguous as it doesn’t clarify who is following who, this is also relevant to the central
theme of the poem.
Stanza 1: Heaney is remembering his father who, as part of his work on the farm, ploughed the
fields. A simile is used in the first stanza that likens his father’s ‘globed’ shoulders with a ‘full sail’ .
This conveys the image of a strong and powerful man, with broad shoulders. He has control over
the horse who is responding to the father’s clicks and commands. There is a clear admiration that
comes through from a young Heaney observing his father in his work.
Stanza 2: This admiration is confirmed with the statement opening stanza 2 ‘An expert’. This,
followed by caesura, demands that the reader pause on this thought and consider his mastery,
explained in the following lines using precise verbs ‘fit, set, without breaking, single pluck’. This is
significant as rural farm work is often considered menial, unimportant. Heaney elevates it to
something almost talented and artistic. Enjambment is used at the end to illustrate the plough
turning, to come back down the line.
Stanza 3: The father and horse are described as a team – man and nature working in unison. More
details of the precision and skill of his father ‘His eye narrow and angled at the ground, mapping
the furrow exactly’. There is a sense that Heaney is attentively observing his father with great
pride, almost with such detail so that he may mimic his father in later life.
Stanza 4: Begins to focus on the son. Heaney’s stumbling is juxtaposed with the accuracy of his
father. He stumbles, falls and rides on his father’s back. The use of the passive verb form ‘He rode
me on his back’ shows that it is father who is in control, very different to ‘I rode on his back’. This is
could be interpreted as a sentimental portrait of a father who was also affectionate and loving,
who enjoys the company of his son, not detached and unapproachable because of his focus on
work. It could also show Heaney’s frustration, that he felt he could never measure up to his father.
Stanza 5: The impact and influence the father has on Heaney is made clear at the beginning of this
stanza ‘I wanted to grow up and plough’. There is a melancholic tone, when Heaney acknowledges
that ‘All I ever did was follow’, again revealing a sense of his own failure and inadequacy.
Stanza 6: As an adult, Heaney recognises his impact on his father and the nuisance he may have
caused ‘tripping, falling, yapping’. However, he also recognises the changes to their relationship as
it is now the father ‘who keeps stumbling’ and ‘will not go away’. This can be interpreted in two
ways. Either, in the same way that the young Heaney would not leave his father’s side because of
his devotion to him, now the father is mimicking his son in his old age, Heaney tenderly recognising
the roles switching. Alternatively, the adult Heaney is frustrated by his father’s dependence on him,
having seen him as a leader and role-model all his life.
The poem is a touching celebration of a father, skilfully working on the
land. It is told from the viewpoint of the son, the poet Heaney,
remembering him as a child and as an adult. It is a gentle and poignant
tone.
The poem is written in 6 regular, controlled quatrains. It has ABAB rhyme

and half-rhyme. The controlled structure represents an old memory that
has long been reflected upon. It also represents the ordered rhythm of
ploughing, very structured, with enjambment to mirror the turn in the
field, shown in stanza 2-3.
Love is shown through the description of the father at work. The

admiration of the son, observing his father, is shown through the simile
used to describe him ‘globed’ ‘like a full sail’ The precision of the detail
highlights his father’s skill and expertise ‘fit, set, without breaking, pluck’.
The admiration Heaney has for his father is juxtaposed with his own
sense of inadequacy ‘I stumbled, all I ever did was follow’ and desire to
follow in his footsteps, and be the man his father is.
The poem refers to some of the complexities of changing family

relationships. The father is loving and affectionate, his son follows him
everywhere, there is no hint that his father lost patience with the young
Heaney. As he becomes an adult, Heaney views himself as ’a nuisance’.
There is possibly guilt and shame that this is how he now views his father,
a man who he once was so devoted to. It is a glimpse of the conflict
Heaney feels over the changing roles and relationships in family life.
Rural Mastery Mimic Sentimental Inadequacy Quatrain
Ploughing Unison Accuracy Affectionate Devotion Elevates
Admiration Attentive Passive Melancholic Poignant
CLEAN COPY ANNOTATION: FOLLOWER
Annotate the poem from memory By Seamus Heaney
My father worked with a horse-plough,

His shoulders globed like a full sail strung
Between the shafts and the furrow.
The horse strained at his clicking tongue.
An expert. He would set the wing

And fit the bright steel-pointed sock.
The sod rolled over without breaking.
At the headrig, with a single pluck
Of reins, the sweating team turned round

And back into the land. His eye
Narrowed and angled at the ground,
Mapping the furrow exactly.
I stumbled in his hob-nailed wake,

Fell sometimes on the polished sod;
Sometimes he rode me on his back
Dipping and rising to his plod.
I wanted to grow up and plough,

To close one eye, stiffen my arm.
All I ever did was follow
In his broad shadow round the farm.
I was a nuisance, tripping, falling,

Yapping always. But today
It is my father who keeps stumbling
Behind me, and will not go away.
HAVE YOU NOTICED:

Enjambment Semantic field Consonance
Caesura Simile
QUESTIONS:
1. How does the poem convey complicated relationships between children and their
parents in this and one other poem of your choice?
2. Compare feelings of respect and admiration in relationships as communicated
through this poem and one other of your choice.
3. How does the poet present fathers in this poem and one other of your choice.
K McCabe 2016 39
THEMES:
MOTHER, ANY DISTANCE 

Family Bonds
Letting Go
 Childhood
By Simon Armitage (1963 - )  Parental Love
Born in Yorkshire. This poem comes from a collection of poems COMPARE WITH:
Context
called the ’Book of Matches’, named because Armitage intended

 Walking Away
each poem to be read in the time it takes for a match to burn. He
 Follower
often writes about complex emotions using everyday events. He  Climbing My grandfather
was recently made the Oxford Professor of Poetry.  Before You Were Mine
The poem was originally untitled, along with all poems in the ‘Book of Matches’. The given title
comes from the first few lines. This adds to the ambiguity, that it is the reader’s task to decide on the
overall message or theme.
Stanza 1: Addressed directly to his mother, using a formal term of address. This could be the first
indication that he is ready, trying to move into adulthood. However, it is immediately contrasted with
an acknowledgement that he still needs her ‘second pair of hands’.
Stanza 1: Hyperbole used to describe the new house ‘acres’, ‘prairies’. This has connotations of both
childish adventure & exploration, heading off into the Wild West, unchartered territory. It also
suggests some amount of fear and trepidation about the unknown future.
Stanza 2: Mother is described as being at the zero-end . She is the fixed point, whereas he is the one
moving away. This is the beginning of the imagery suggesting he is attached or tethered to her. He
has to report ‘back to base’ with the ‘line still feeding out’. Their attachment is reminiscent of an
umbilical cord, suggesting a deep connection between mother and son. However, as he moves away,
he is aware that he is becoming more distant – ‘unreeling years between us’ and this leaves him
feeling both anxious and excited.
Stanza 2: The enjambment of stanza 1 & 2 is contrasted with the caesura of two juxtaposed images
‘Anchor. Kite.’ She is the anchor, he is the kite. Anchor can be both stable & reassuring, as well as
restricting, hindering, pulling him back. However, Kite suggests joyous feelings of freedom &
excitement, only enjoyed if attached to string.
Stanza 3: The image of the poet space-walking continues the theme of exploration. He is now at the
limits of the tape measure and metaphorically, of his freedom whilst being so tethered to his mother,
‘something has to give’. Tenderly, he notices she is still holding on and will not let go of him.
Stanza 3: He reaches for the ‘endless sky’ and the poem ends ambiguously, leaving the question of
whether he will ‘fall or fly’ hanging. The end seems implicitly positive. Hatch has a double meaning.
Like a bird, independence is natural and he will fly.
The poem is about a son measuring up his first house, with the help of
his mother. He acknowledges that he is beginning to physically and
emotionally move further away from her, into adulthood. It is told in first
person from the viewpoint of the poet. It has a gentle and positive tone.
The poem is based on a sonnet form, traditionally used for love poetry.
Mother, Any Distance has 15 lines, ends with a rhyming couplet. It
roughly has an octave and sestet. The turn (volta) comes in line 9 when
the son begins to experience less fear and more excitement and need for
his independence. The poem moves between harmony and rhyme/half-
rhyme into disjointed, irregular rhyme and irregular line length. The
instability, irregularity of the rhyme and metre symbolises the evolving
nature of the relationship, that they are changing and renegotiating
their roles
The poem uses a number of metaphors relating to flight to explore the

changing relationship between the mother and the son. Space-walking
and back to base convey the excitement and adventure of the son
leaving. Kite also has associations with fun and play. Finally the son
reaching for the hatch (also a pun on birds hatching) preparing to fly
suggests a bird leaving the nest (home) to become truly independent.
The poet though attached to his mother, wants and needs to let go. The
use of the words associated with adventure and exploration suggest both
excitement and trepidation. The poet knows he is moving into
unchartered territory. Hyperbole symbolises his childlike response to his
freedom (acres, prairie, space-walk) but this changes to something more
dynamic and decisive (climb, reach). The poem shows the relationship is
evolving and being renegotiated by son and mother.
Despite the seemingly reserved nature of the poem, the poet clearly has
deep feelings of love for his Mother. Choosing the sonnet form, used
typically for love poetry, makes a clear statement. Although he doesn’t
use the word love, or any terms of affection for his mother, the poem
shows his literal & emotional attachment through the imagery and
metaphors – You come to help me, You at the zero end, still pinch..
Sonnet Renegotiating Trepidation Rhyming Pun Restricting

Couplet
Metaphor Ambiguously Half-rhyme Disjointed Tethered Hindering
Umbilical Cord Hyperbole Independence Direct Evolving Unchartered

Address Territory
CLEAN COPY ANNOTATION: MOTHER, ANY DISTANCE
Annotate the poem from memory By Simon Armitage
Mother, any distance greater than a single span

requires a second pair of hands.
You come to help me measure windows, pelmets, doors,
the acres of the walls, the prairies of the floors.
You at the zero-end, me with the spool of tape, recording

length, reporting metres, centimetres back to base, then leaving
up the stairs, the line still feeding out, unreeling
years between us. Anchor. Kite.
I space-walk through the empty bedrooms, climb

the ladder to the loft, to breaking point, where something
has to give;
two floors below your fingertips still pinch
the last one-hundredth of an inch...I reach
towards a hatch that opens on an endless sky
to fall or fly.
HAVE YOU NOTICED:

Enjambment Hyperbole Irregular Rhyme
Caesura Extended Metaphor Imagery
QUESTIONS:
1. How does the poet present their feelings towards a parent in this and one other
2. How does the poem convey complicated relationships between children and
their parents in this and one other poem of your choice?
3. Compare the way growing up is portrayed in this and one other poem of your
choice.
K McCabe 2016 42
CLIMBING MY GRANDFATHER
THEMES:
By Andrew Waterhouse (1958 – 2001)  Love
Waterhouse was a teacher, environmentalist, poet and musician.  Family Bonds
 Childhood
He committed suicide, having suffered from depression
Context
throughout his life. He was described in his obituary as COMPARE WITH:

imagining a ‘world…full of solid objects and hard edges, stones,  Follower
 Walking Away
wood and frozen ground’.  Before You Were Mine
 Mother, Any Distance
The title of the poem evokes images of a toddler climbing on and over his grandfather. The word
climbing also suggests the height (in life, status, experience) that the grandfather has reached.
The poem begins with the poet proudly stating that he ‘decides to do it free, without a rope or net’
There is something both adventurous, slightly dangerous and liberating about free climbing, an
adventure that the grandson is keen to embark on.
The ascent at the beginning is described as ‘easy’. The grandson notices the ‘old brogues, dusty and
cracked’ creating an image of a practical and resourceful man.
He then ‘traverses’, moving round to ’an earth stained hand’. This portrays the grandfather as
someone who is a simple working man, outside, possibly in his garden or on an allotment, his
fingernails ‘splintered’. There is a romanticised ideal about man’s connection with nature, there is
something honourable about working on the land. He is further shown as honourable, the splinters
‘give good purchase’ (allow for a firm grip). The grandfather is solid, dependable and unshakeable.
An oxymoron ‘warm ice’ is used to describe the skin on his fingers. The contrast highlights
something both deeply familiar and reassuring and something thrilling and slightly unnerving –
possible unnerving because of the awe and wonder the grandson feels for his grandfather.
On his arm he has the ‘glassy ridge of a scar’ demonstrating that he is a man of experience who has
lived a full life. By the grandson placing his feet ‘gently’ in the stitches, there is an
acknowledgement of the pain that may have resulted from this.
The grandson then reaches ‘his still firm shoulder’ and rests. Shoulders are symbolic for carrying
weight, bearing troubles etc. The fact that the grandfather’s shoulders are still ‘firm’ illustrates a
man who is resolute and strong, emotionally and physically.
The grandson acknowledges that ’climbing has its dangers’ perhaps because in our journey to
knowing or ‘climbing’ our relatives, there is always a risk in our discoveries, what we may uncover
from the past.
The grandson stares into his eyes, as he slowly blinks ‘watch a pupil slowly open and close’ – the
inactivity of the grandfather shows immense patience and affection for his grandson.
The summit of the climb is the white hair of the grandfather. The grandson imagines the air being
thin, as it is at top of high mountains. He cannot see any more of his grandfather, having reached
the top of his head, only ‘clouds and birds’ but he does now feel deeply connected to him, feeling
his warmth and ‘the slow pulse’ of his ‘good heart’.
The poem is an extended metaphor, comparing the Grandfather to a
mountain, that the grandson climbs. It is told from the viewpoint of the
grandson as if he is still a young boy. It has a positive and loving tone.
The poem is written in a single stanza. This is significant as it visually

suggests a mountain, with overhanging ledges and ridges. It also
represents the length and height of the ‘climb’. The grandfather has lived
a long life to be the firm, stable and resolute man that he is. The lines are
a mix of both enjambment and caesura to suggest the free-flowing
movement of the climber, and the perpetual flow of life.
The grandson has a deep admiration for his grandfather. The central
metaphor of the grandfather being like a mountain suggests the
grandson feels awe and wonder. The particulars of the grandfather’s life
voiced through the physical marks and details, are not questioned by the
grandson, but accepted as part of his form. The patience of the
grandfather, allowing the boy to climb and explore, shows reciprocal love
and tenderness. There is a silent, wisdom about the grandfather, that
knows the young boy must undertake life’s adventures on his own, but
he will always be a dependable and unshakeable ‘rock’ for support.
The poet’s use of a semantic field of climbing and the outdoor world
romanticises the grandfather. The frequent use of specific terms
associated with climbing evokes images of adventure. To the young boy,
the life ahead is an adventure, made even more poignant considering
the fate of the poet. His grandfather is a giant or hero, which the boy
wants to explore, shown in his excitement as he embarks on his ascent..
In addition, there is a an honour associated with the ‘earth stained
hands’, the scars and marks acquired over the years.
Environmentalist Ascent Honourable Resolute Perpetual Awe
Liberating Romanticised Dependable Patience Admiration Oxymoron
Embark Ideal Unshakeable Summit Reciprocal Poignant
CLEAN COPY ANNOTATION: CLIMBING MY
Annotate the poem from memory GRANDFATHER
by Andrew Waterhouse
I decide to do it free, without a rope or net.

First, the old brogues, dusty and cracked;
an easy scramble onto his trousers,
pushing into the weave, trying to get a grip.
By the overhanging shirt I change
direction, traverse along his belt
to an earth stained hand. The nails
are splintered and give good purchase,
the skin of his finger is smooth and thick
like warm ice. On his arm I discover
the glassy ridge of a scar, place my feet
gently in the old stitches and move on.
At his still firm shoulder, I rest for a while
in the shade, not looking down,
for climbing has its dangers, then pull
myself up the loose skin of his neck
to a smiling mouth to drink among teeth.
Refreshed, I cross the screed cheek,
to stare into his brown eyes, watch a pupil
slowly open and close. Then up over
the forehead, the wrinkles well-spaced
and easy, to his thick hair (soft and white
at this altitude), reaching for the summit,
where gasping for breath I can only lie
watching clouds and birds circle,
feeling his heat, knowing
the slow pulse of his good heart.
HAVE YOU NOTICED:

Enjambment Semantic field Oxymoron
Caesura Extended metaphor Simile
QUESTIONS:
1. How does the poem reveal strong family bonds in this and one other poem of your choice?
2. Compare the portrayal of adults and children in family relationships in this and one other poem
of your choice.
3. How does the poet use imagery to portray a relationship in this and one other poem of your
choice?
K McCabe 2016 45
EDEN ROCK THEMES:
 Past
By Charles Causley (1917 – 2003)  Memory
Causley was brought up in Cornwall. The poem can be considered  Loss/Longing
 Family
partly autobiographical as his father died when he was around 7
Context
years old, after returning from WWI and never recovered from COMPARE WITH:
injuries. Causley was private & believed everything people needed  Before You Were Mine
 Walking Away
to know about him was in his poems. The poem was published  Mother Any Distance
after his mother had died, when he was well into old age.  Follower
Title ‘Eden Rock’ refers to an invented location, created by Causley. The word Eden could be
suggestive of the Garden of Eden, an idyllic paradise.
Stanza 1: Starts in the present tense with vague location ‘somewhere’. Contrasted with precise,
detailed image of father. ‘Same’ suit suggests habit and a modest, unpretentious person, who values
quality that lasts shown in the detail of the ‘Genuine Irish Tweed.’
Stanza 1: The present tense and use of ‘still’ describing the dog gives the impression of a moment
from many years ago, which is now replaying and has a timeless quality.
Stanza 2: Precise, detailed description of mother sprigged dress, ribbon, straw hat etc. suggests a
photographic memory of the event, as if the poet has studied a family snapshot many times.
Stanza 2: white, light, wheat symbolise a peaceful, positive, natural scene.
Stanza 3: Details again point towards modest, resourceful and simple people, reusing what they
have ‘old HP sauce bottle’, also reinforced by ‘Same’ repeated from Stanza 2. ’Painted blue’ tin cups
adds to this sense of resourcefulness but also evokes images of the sky, echoed in stanza 4.
Stanza 3: The action happening ‘slowly’ seems almost dreamlike.

Stanza 4: Some critics have suggested that the three suns represent the Holy Trinity and that Causley
is clearly referring to heaven at this point. The bright white light is symbolic of a shift & change in the
mood as the mother ‘shades her eyes’ and looks at her son. It is the first interaction between them.
Stanza 5: The poet is no longer part of the dream like image. He can now ‘hear’ his parents call, but
is no longer able to see them.
Stanza 5/6: The physical distancing of the final line from the stanza captures the distance between
the poet and his parents, who are on the other side.
Stanza 5/6: The euphemistic ‘crossing’ which is ‘not as hard as’ he ‘might think’ and that he ‘had not
thought it would be like this’ could suggest that Causley is filled with joy and peace that his parents
are waiting for him - death should not be feared. However, there is a sense of fear – accepting death
means giving up on life.
Eden Rock is a description of a picnic the poet has with parents. On a
literal level, it could be simply nostalgic. But it has a more symbolic
meaning - the poet imagining his parents in a timeless afterlife calling to
him to join them. It is told from the viewpoint of the poet in first person
and has a reflective and peaceful tone.
Structured in 4 regular quatrains with a 5th split, final stanza. It has a

regular metre and uses half - rhyme. This creates an underlying sense of
discord, an eerie sense of disharmony, that the idyllic scene is not quite
right. It should be melodic and harmonious, but the half-rhyme prevents
this. The split 5th stanza creates a physical gap for the reader to cross in
order to reach the final line.
Poem uses a series of precise details to describe his parents and the
scene. Irish Tweed, sprigged dress, stiff white cloth, thermos etc. These
vivid descriptions create a distinct portrait or tableau of the family. This
precision juxtaposes the ambiguity created elsewhere in the poem
‘somewhere beyond Eden Rock’ and the past that is set in the present.
Poem is flooded with light and bright colours: whitens, white cloth,
wheat, light, milk, blue etc. These all create a beautiful scene.
Poem uses a number of religious motifs or symbols to suggest the peace

and tranquility of the afterlife: three suns, Eden, crossing the river. There
is a sense of reconciliation with death and becoming at peace with the
idea of it. Notice death isn’t mentioned at all in the poem, so the
euphemism of ’crossing’ and the whole poem could be considered as an
extended metaphor for death.
Tableau Nostalgia Fragments Disharmony Euphemism/ Idyllic

Euphemistic
Discord Poignant Modest Reflective Ambiguous/ Afterlife

Ambiguity
Half-rhyme Unpretentious Tranquil Religious Caesura & Precise

Motifs Enjambment
CLEAN COPY ANNOTATION: EDEN ROCK
By Charles Causley
They are waiting for me somewhere beyond Eden Rock:

My father, twenty-five, in the same suit
Of Genuine Irish Tweed, his terrier Jack
Still two years old and trembling at his feet.
My mother, twenty-three, in a sprigged dress

Drawn at the waist, ribbon in her straw hat,
Has spread the stiff white cloth over the grass.
Her hair, the colour of wheat, takes on the light.
She pours tea from a Thermos, the milk straight

From an old H.P. Sauce bottle, a screw
Of paper for a cork; slowly sets out
The same three plates, the tin cups painted blue.
The sky whitens as if lit by three suns.

My mother shades her eyes and looks my way
Over the drifted stream. My father spins
A stone along the water. Leisurely,
They beckon to me from the other bank.

I hear them call, 'See where the stream-path is!
Crossing is not as hard as you might think.’
I had not thought that it would be like this.
HAVE YOU NOTICED:

Enjambment Semantic field Colours
Caesura Euphemism Present tense
QUESTIONS:
1. How does the poet present death in this poem and one other of your choice?
2. Explore how the poet’s family are portrayed in this poem and one other poem of
your choice.
3. How does the poet explore memories of the past in Eden Rock and one other
K McCabe 2016 48
BEFORE YOU WERE MINE THEMES:
 Past
 Memory
By Carol Ann Duffy (1955 - )  Regret
 Mother/Family
An autobiographical poem of the poet’s mother, her youth and her
Context
mother (Duffy’s Grandmother). It moves between the past COMPARE WITH:

(1950’s) and the present. Duffy was raised in Scotland before  Follower
 Walking Away
moving to England as a child. The poem was published in 1993.  Eden Rock
 Mother Any Distance
Title is an inversion of the way we see parent/child relationships. In this poem, Duffy owns or
possesses her mother, she takes ownership and possibly feels responsibility for her mother, when it
is usually the other way round. Duffy could feel some guilt at her mother’s disenchantment with
her life, or feel bitter that her mother was not happy.
Stanza 1: The poem begins with a precise image of mother with friends. There is a sense of
exuberance and joy of youth as they ‘shriek at the pavement’.
Stanza 1: Poet suggests her mother has the same attributes as Marilyn Monroe (glamour, sex
appeal etc.) ‘Marilyn.’
Stanza 2: Excitement & glamour continues ‘ballroom with a thousand eyes’ and ‘fizzy, movie
tomorrows’. Duffy imagines her mother as being the centre of attention watched by everyone, a
fairy-tale scenario of endless possibilities for love & romance
Stanza 2: ‘I knew you would dance like that’ conveys Duffy’s imagined and idealised memories of
her mother.
Stanza 3: Begins with a rhetorical question that has an ironic, conversational tone. This suggests
intimacy, pathos and some bitterness. Intimacy as if they are equals, pathos showing an emotional
understanding of how hard it is being a mother, and bitterness acknowledging that her mother was
never as happy as she was ‘before’ she was hers.
Stanza 3: Duffy’s hands in the ‘red high-heeled shoes’ is a juxtaposition between the innocence of a
child’s play and dressing up, and the shoes as a sexual icon. Relics because they are now useless.
Stanza 3: Duffy’s memory is so vivid she uses synaesthesia to evoke the image of her mother who
she sees ‘clear as scent’.
Stanza 4: Pavement imagery is repeated as mother and daughter are ‘stamping stars’, suggesting
Hollywood glamour, but this time it is the wrong pavement.
Stanza 4: Duffy acknowledges that as a child she recognised the difference between her carefree
mother and the unhappy, bitter mother. ‘Even then I wanted the bold girl winking’.
The poem is about the poet’s idealised memories of her mother. It is
told from the viewpoint of the poet, who is omniscient. She is directly
addressing her mother. It has a poignant tone.
Structured in blank verse which creates an underlying sense of

disharmony – mother’s life wasn’t as she had hoped. Fragments of
memories and imagined memories pieced together like tableaus or
vignettes, so contains mixture of enjambment and caesura. Has
regularity in the stanzas to represent the regularity of the circle of life –
daughter, mother, grandmother. It also often uses the present tense to
talk about the past – again suggesting that things repeat themselves.
Circular structure also shown in the first pavement and the poem ending
with a pavement, but the ‘wrong’ one.
Poem uses a semantic field of glamorous icons: throughout Marilyn,
ballroom, movie, cha cha cha, sparkle, waltz etc. Evocative and sensory
images. These images idealise her mother and suggest an almost fairy-
tale youth. There is a deep love and admiration shown for her mother.
Poem juxtaposes the experiences of youth with growing old and having
responsibilities throughout loud, possessive yell, with a hiding for the late
one, my hands in the shoes etc. Although she recognises that this is life,
there is still a sense of sadness and lack of fulfillment, as though life
didn’t meet the expectations of youth. The poem, moving in between
time frames, also shows how life merges from one part to another.
Poem uses a direct and conversational tone throughout to create a sense
of intimacy and equality that leaves Duffy seeming quite angry. The
direct tone (use of I, me, my) suggests that Duffy, as an omniscient
narrator, is fully controlling her mother’s images, by inventing them and
over glamourizing them. The conversational tone suggests a confident
and more knowing tone – it is full of dramatic irony.
Tableau Idealised Fragments Synaesthesia Disenchantment Non-linear

Memory
Vignette Poignant Possession Inversion Relics or Icons Omniscient
Exuberance Blank verse Direct Pathos Caesura & Disharmony

address Enjambment
Organisation) and develop an informed personal response (Point Opinion statements), refer to the text, including quotations, (embed
them) to support and illustrate interpretations
AO2: Analyse the language, form and structure used by a writer to create meanings and effects (Zoom in, Analysis), using relevant
subject terminology (Techniques) where appropriate.
CLEAN COPY ANNOTATION: BEFORE YOU WERE MINE
Annotate the poem from memory By Carol Ann Duffy
Before You Were Mine
I’m ten years away from the corner you laugh on

with your pals, Maggie McGeeney and Jean Duff.
The three of you bend from the waist, holding
each other, or your knees, and shriek at the pavement.
Your polka-dot dress blows round your legs. Marilyn.
I’m not here yet. The thought of me doesn’t occur

in the ballroom with the thousand eyes, the fizzy, movie tomorrows
the right walk home could bring. I knew you would dance
like that. Before you were mine, your Ma stands at the close
with a hiding for the late one. You reckon it’s worth it.
The decade ahead of my loud, possessive yell was the best one, eh?
I remember my hands in those high-heeled red shoes, relics,
and now your ghost clatters toward me over George Square
till I see you, clear as scent, under the tree,
with its lights, and whose small bites on your neck, sweetheart?
Cha cha cha! You’d teach me the steps on the way home from Mass,
stamping stars from the wrong pavement. Even then
I wanted the bold girl winking in Portobello, somewhere
in Scotland, before I was born. That glamorous love lasts
where you sparkle and waltz and laugh before you were mine.
HAVE YOU NOTICED:

Enjambment Semantic field Synaesthesia
Caesura Rhetorical questions Personal pronouns
QUESTIONS:
1. How does the poet present family memories in this and one other poem of your
choice?
2. Compare how poets present relationships with their mothers in this and one
3. To what extent does the poet present loss of a loved one as something mournful
and sad? Compare this poem with one other
K McCabe 2016 poem of your choice. 51
THEMES:
LETTERS FROM YORKSHIRE 

Love
Longing
 Distance
By Maura Dooley (1957 - )  Nature
Dooley was born in Cornwall and went to University in York. Now
COMPARE WITH:
Context
living in London, Dooley lived in Yorkshire for some years before

moving to London.  I Think of Thee
 Winter Swans
Letters from Yorkshire was published in 2002  Love’s Philosophy
 Farmer’s Bride
The reference to ‘letters’ in the title, using the plural gives the impression that the poet receives
letters fairly frequently and that these are much anticipated and welcomed.
The poem is written in first person, but moves between addressing the man as ‘he’ to the direct form
of address ‘you’.
Stanza 1: Vividly portrays the man in his garden. Detailed description indicates he is deeply
connected with nature. Active verbs describe his work. He is also deeply connected with the poet as
’his knuckles singing’ communicates the joy he feels in sharing the return of the ‘lapwings’ with his
friend.
Stanza 2: The caesura and enjambment suggest the poet is recalling moments as she imagines them.
This is also indicated by the use of the continuous tense in Stanza 1, that the two lives and worlds
are occurring simultaneously.
Stanza 2: The sudden change in tone ‘It’s not romance, simply how things are’ contains ambiguous
reference to ‘It’. This could be interpreted as the poet refusing to see the beauty of nature in a
romanticised way. She may want to portray the typically romanticised ideal of nature as normal and
‘real’ as this is what she wants for her own life – daily engagement with nature, in the way she has
described the man in stanza 1. However, it could also be interpreted as a defensive refusal to
acknowledge she is romantically linked to the man. There is a change from ‘He’ to a much more
direct and intimate ‘You’ immediately after this point, which could suggest a change in her ability to
measure and control her feelings.
Stanza 2/3: The poem contains clever enjambment across these two stanzas with the ‘seasons
turning’.
Stanza 3: The poet’s description of her life seems mundane and unfulfilling. The imagery of her
‘feeding’ words into the screen indicates that this work is consuming her, the screen will never be
satisfied and always demands more. Her futile work is juxtaposed with his purposeful work.
Stanza 3: The reference to ‘headlines’ works well next to her challenge of the reality of her life
compared to his, through the use of a rhetorical question. It deliberately makes the reader question
what is real and important.
Stanza 5: Although she yearns and longs for his world and the ‘air and light’ which floods his letters,
they have a profound connection even with the distance as their ’souls’ tap out messages across
miles.
Letters from Yorkshire is about the poet receiving letters from a male
friend. These letters give her a window into his life in Yorkshire, a life that
she misses and yearns for. It is told from the viewpoint of the poet. It has
a reflective and positive tone.
The poem is structured in 5 unrhymed tercets. The enjambment and

irregular rhyme and rhythm suggests a flow of continual and immediate
thought, as well as symbolising the flow of nature and the seasons. The
end-stopped lines create moments of deeper reflection, questioning her
own choices in life.
The poet uses nature to explore what makes her happy. The natural world
surrounding the man is gentle, tranquil and full of warmth and light –
even in a cold setting singing reddened in the warmth, clearing a path,
snow, air and light etc. She yearns for the simplicity of his life, shown
through the monosyllables used to describe his work. She experiences
vicarious joy from knowing the tasks he is completing in his garden.
The poet’s feelings are not explicitly expressed. There is a deep bond
between them, shown through the plurality of the ‘letters’, his joy at
writing to her, their comfort with the distance, an their souls being
connected. The poet seems to be measured and controlled in how she
presents her feelings. This control could be seen as slightly shaken after
defending her feelings about the man, when she begins to refer to the
man using ‘you’.
The poet experiences love over distance. There is a peacefulness and

tranquility about the distance. Unlike ‘I Think Of Thee’ which is bursting
with impatience, the relationship adds depth and meaning to the poet’s
life. There is no plea to be together, or despair, simply a joy at the
company they share.
Tercets Reflective Vicarious Pronouns Simultaneous Measured
Irregular Profound Continuous Yearns Ambiguous Futile

tense
Monosyllables Mundane Present Vivid Romanticised Consuming
Participles
CLEAN COPY ANNOTATION: LETTERS FROM YORKSHIRE
Annotate the poem from memory By Maura Dooley
In February, digging his garden, planting potatoes,

he saw the first lapwings return and came
indoors to write to me, his knuckles singing
as they reddened in the warmth.

It’s not romance, simply how things are.
You out there, in the cold, seeing the seasons
turning, me with my heartful of headlines

feeding words onto a blank screen.
Is your life more real because you dig and sow?
You wouldn’t say so, breaking ice on a waterbutt,

clearing a path through snow. Still, it’s you
who sends me word of that other world
pouring air and light into an envelope. So that

at night, watching the same news in different houses,
our souls tap out messages across the icy miles.
HAVE YOU NOTICED:

Enjambment Semantic field Alliteration
Caesura Juxtaposition Imagery
QUESTIONS:
1. How does the natural setting help the poet to explore feelings in this and one
other poem of your choice?
2. How is a relationship over a long distance presented in this poem and one other
3. How are the feelings of the speaker/poet communicated in this poem and one
other poem of your choice? K McCabe 2016 54
When We Love’s
Philosophy Porphyria’s 1837-1901
1800 Two Parted
by SHELLEY Lover Sonnet 29:
VICTORIAN
by BYRON By BROWNING I Think of Thee
By BARRETT BROWNING ERA
1816 1820 1836 1845

1790 - 1850
ROMANTIC
ERA 1867
1916 Neutral Tones
By HARDY
1956 The Farmer's Bride

By MEW
Walking Away
By DAY LEWIS
Follower Eden Rock

By HEANEY By CAUSLEY Mother, Any
Distance
1963 By ARMITAGE
Letters from
Yorkshire
By DOOLEY
1988
1993
2000
Climbing My Grandfather
By WATERHOUSE
Winter
Swans
Singh Song by SHEERS
2002
By NAGRA
Before You
Were Mine
By DUFFY
1950 -
2006 present
2007 MODERN
DAY POETS
2013
2016 K McCabe 2016 55
How to write a comparative essay:
You are advised not to follow a formula for any of your literature essays.
High grades will be awarded to those who can construct detailed analysis, zooming in on
words and phrases, whilst being focused on the question.
It is important that, whilst not following a formula, you work to a checklist in your head of
what an excellent poetry essay includes:
The introduction could include:

T – What is the topic of the printed poem? Literally? Metaphorically?
V – From whose viewpoint is the poem told? Who is it addressed to?
T – What is the overall tone of the poem?
C – What poem does the printed poem compare with in relation to the question?
This also might be an opportunity to make relevant context points where appropriate.
The remaining paragraphs, the main body, could start with a paragraph on structure as you
look at the overall, ‘whole’ of each poem. Look at the type of poem, rhyme scheme and
metre, patterns of caesura and enjambment etc.
After this, paragraphs should pull out comparative points of language and imagery. It is
easiest to start at the beginning of the printed poem and work through, or with the most
obvious and noticeable points. Make sure each paragraph has a clear topic or point
sentence (as shown in the coloured boxes in this guide). The rest of the paragraph should
include a mixture of:
T – Techniques using subject specific vocabulary. Sound like an expert analyst.
E – Evidence, carefully chosen words and phrases, embedded within sentences.
A – Analysis zooming in on the connotation, symbolic meaning, suggestion and
emphasis of the words and phrases.
K McCabe 2016 56
Resources to help:
Mr Bruff’s guides online and in print – video analysis of each poem on
www.youtube.com/mrbruff
www.getrevising.co.uk for cards on each poem
www.madameanglaise.wordpress.com for very detailed analysis of each of the

poems in the Love & Relationships cluster
www.stgregseng.com for a language and poetry techniques glossary
www.aqa.org.uk for specimen Literature Paper 2 exam paper to look at

questions and exam mark scheme
An analysis of poems by the poets themselves:

Singh Song:
http://www.sheerpoetry.co.uk/gcse/daljit-nagra/singh-song
Before You Were Mine:

http://www.sheerpoetry.co.uk/gcse/carol-ann-duffy/gcse-anthology-
poems/before-you-were-mine
K McCabe 2016 57

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AQA POETRY ANTHOLOGY

Green Box for Topic,

Key ambitious vocabulary

5-7 When We Two Parted

8-10 Neutral Tones

11-13 Winter Swans

14-17 Singh Song

18-20 Love’s Philosophy

21-25 Farmer’s Bride

26-30 Porphyria’s Lover

31-33 Sonnet 29: I Think of Thee

34-36 Walking Away

40-42 Mother, Any Distance

43-45 Climbing My Grandfather

46-48 Eden Rock

49-51 Before You Were Mine

52-54 Letters From Yorkshire

Understanding the question

Understanding the individual poems

Understanding relevant context points of each poem

Identifying poetic techniques and naming them

Linking poetic techniques to topic/meaning/theme

Identifying structure techniques and poetry

Linking structure techniques to topic/meaning/theme.

Zooming in on the detail, words and phrases, unpicking the

Embedding quotations in sentences for fluent writing

Using ambitious vocabulary to discuss the ideas in the

order to protect the reputation of the lady it was written about,

The poem uses language to foreshadow the inevitable end of the

The poem juxtaposes knowledge and silence/secrecy. There is a clear

Grief Lament Confessional Melancholic Notorious Anonymity

Mourning Forbidden Regret Bitter Scandal/ Inevitable

Foreshadow Pathetic Fallacy Doomed Rejected Juxtaposition Wounds

When we two parted

The dew of the morning

They name thee before me,

HAVE YOU NOTICED:

Stanza 4: Wrings with wrong alliteration emphasises his anguish.

The poem is structured in 4 regular quatrains. This suggests highly

The poem uses a semantic field of death and lifelessness. Imagery

The poem uses a series of opposites to present the relationship. The

Bitter Pathetic Oxymoron Ominous Anguish Dissipates

Resentful Futility Unresolved Doomed Inflamed Melancholic

Infuriating Plague Fertile Bleak Irregular Sombre

We stood by a pond that winter day,

Your eyes on me were as eyes that rove

The smile on your mouth was the deadest thing

Since then, keen lessons that love deceives,

HAVE YOU NOTICED:

natural landscapes. This poem was taken from a collection

Tercet Disharmony Disjointedness Pathetic Simile United /

Couplet Tranquil Reconciliation Sibilance Reunited Tension

Personification Turbulent Distract Porcelain Consonance Foundations

The clouds had given their all –

the waterlogged earth

until the swans came and stopped us

they halved themselves in the dark water,

‘They mate for life’ you said as they left,

slow-stepping in the lake’s shingle and sand,

and folded, one over the other,

HAVE YOU NOTICED:

The poem is irregular in terms of stanzas and uses a number of different